Audit Output Styles Command
Audit Claude Code output styles for quality, compliance, and usability.
Initialization
Before auditing, initialize the environment:
- Get the current UTC date for audit timestamps.
- Capture the project root path for subagent communication.
- Ensure the temp directory (
.claude/temp/) exists. - Clean up any stale audit files if the user confirms.
The output-customization skill provides authoritative validation guidance (auto-loaded when this command runs).
What Gets Audited
- Markdown file format (must be
.md, not.json) - YAML frontmatter (name, description, keep-coding-instructions)
- Content structure and clarity
- File naming conventions
- Style switching compatibility
Command Arguments
| Argument | Description |
| --- | --- |
| (none) | Audit all discoverable output styles |
| plugin | Only audit plugin output styles |
| project | Only audit .claude/output-styles/*.md |
| user | Only audit ~/.claude/output-styles/*.md |
| all | Audit all scopes explicitly |
| --force | Audit regardless of modification status |
| --skip-validation | Skip finding validation (faster, but may include false positives) |
Step 1: Discover Output Styles
Check plugin directories (plugins/*/output-styles/*.md), project directory (.claude/output-styles/*.md), and user directory (~/.claude/output-styles/*.md on Unix, %USERPROFILE%\.claude\output-styles\ on Windows).
Warn about any .json files found (wrong format - output styles must be markdown).
Step 2: Parse Arguments
Parse the scope selector (plugin, project, user, all) and --force flag from command arguments. Filter discovered styles to match the requested scope.
Step 3: Present Audit Plan
Display mode (SMART or FORCE), styles discovered, plugins with styles, and file list with scope.
Step 4: Execute Audits
For each style, spawn the output-style-auditor subagent with the following context:
- Scope (plugin, project, or user)
- Full path to the style file
- Style name (derived from filename)
- Last audit date or "Never audited"
- Current audit date
- Project root path
Run subagents in parallel batches of 3-5.
Subagents write findings to .claude/temp/ as both JSON (for recovery/aggregation) and markdown (for human review). The main conversation thread collects results and updates audit logs using its Write/Edit tools.
Step 4.5: Validate Findings
Unless --skip-validation flag is present:
- Spawn the
audit-finding-validatoragent with:project_root: The captured project root pathaudit_type: "output-style"audit_files: List of.claude/temp/audit-*-output-style-*.jsonfile paths
- Wait for validation to complete
- Read updated JSON files with validation results
- Filter out FALSE_POSITIVE findings completely before aggregation
- Note: Filtered findings are logged to
.claude/temp/audit-filtered-findings.json
If --skip-validation flag is present:
- Skip validation phase entirely (current speed preserved)
- Present all findings without filtering
- Note in summary: "Validation: Skipped"
Step 5: Final Summary
Report total audited by scope, results, and details table. List format warnings for .json files with remediation (convert to .md).
Include validation statistics (if validation was performed):
- Validation performed: Yes/No
- Findings validated: X
- False positives filtered: Y
- Verified findings: Z
- Unverified findings: W
Important Notes
Frontmatter Requirements
Output styles require YAML frontmatter with name, description, and optionally keep-coding-instructions.
File Naming
Use kebab-case with .md extension (e.g., my-style.md).
Cross-Platform Paths
| Platform | User Styles |
| --- | --- |
| Unix | ~/.claude/output-styles/ |
| Windows | %USERPROFILE%\.claude\output-styles\ |
Audit Log Location
All audit results are written to .claude/audit/output-styles.md.
Use /audit-log output-styles to view current audit status.
Example Usage
Example 1: Audit All Output Styles
User: /audit-output-styles
Claude: Discovering output styles...
## Audit Plan
**Mode**: SMART
**Styles discovered**: 3
**Plugins with styles**: 2
1. [plugin:claude-ecosystem] concise-coder.md
2. [plugin:soft-skills] code-review-comment.md
3. [project] custom-style.md
[Spawns output-style-auditor subagents]
## Audit Complete
| Scope | Style | Result | Score |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| plugin | concise-coder | PASS | 100/100 |
| project | custom-style | PASS | 98/100 |
Example 2: Audit Plugin Styles Only
User: /audit-output-styles plugin
Claude: Auditing plugin output styles only...